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Palma Christi, which gives fruit the first year, and yields abundance 

 pf castor-oil, which all families possess in such quantity, that no 

 other sort is burnt. 



Bees are by no means uncommon ; they are easily domesticated,' 

 and, I believe, are perfectly harmless. Their honey is pleasant ; 

 the wax, particularly that generally sold, which is taken from their 

 nests in old forest- trees, is very foul, but might be purified by a very 

 simple process. The woods contain a great variety of animals of 

 the monkey kind, and also beasts of prey, some of which have 

 tolerably good fur. Among these may be classed a peculiar species 

 of the otter. Insects are numerous, but the mosquitos are not so 

 offensively so as in the Rio de la Plata. The animalculum, called 

 the niagua or jigger, is troublesome ; it beds itself under the nails of 

 the toes, and sometimes of the fingers, but it may easily be banished 

 by extracting it and its bag of eggs with a needle, and filling the 

 cavity with calomel or snulf, for fear any should have remained. 

 Reptiles, I was told, were very numerous, but I saw few, except 

 toads, Avhich in the evenings crawl upon the foot paths, and even 

 infest the streets of the city. The sorocooco or jararraca (serpents) 

 are said to be very dangerous. 



The woods produce large and durable timber, well calculated for 

 building. Of their trees, all of which retain their Indian names, 

 some yield very fine gums. The jacarand^, called in England rose- 

 wood, is here very common. Many of their shrubs bear beautiful 

 flowers, and are very aromatic. Among the innumerable creeping 

 plants which clothe the soil of their uncleared lands, there are 

 some distinguished as infallible antidotes to the bite of venomous 

 reptiles ; one in particular, called the corazao de Jesu *, is univer- 

 sally esteemed. 



Beyond the plain which nearly encircles St. Paul's, the country is 

 hilly, or rather mountainous. Had the period of my stay been 



* Its leaf is shaped like a heart. 



